The Wolf Among Us Review (Xbox, PlayStation & PC)

The Wolf Among Us dares to eradicate the lines between childhood fantasies and disturbing realities, classic fables and Grimm-like alterations with a signature Telltale twist and an episodic thriller that fabricates faithful fairy tales in the best way imaginable. Minced with a familiar format and a lashing of adult humor, Telltale’s dark cloud—the lone wolf amongst gleeful herds—emerges from the pack with a powerful anthology of gritty backstories and suburban noir, warped storybook iterations and weirdly relatable fables.

To compare The Wolf Among Us to Telltale’s other episodic affairs just wouldn’t be right, because while it does fall beneath the same umbrella as the studio’s neighboring QTE-obsessed comic book-like excursions, it also finds its place as an entirely separate force of power. It’s gritter, darker, and a far cry from your average Minecraft: Story Mode DLC. It is, in short, a subsequent chapter that abandons playful storytelling and amplifies the true nature of criminality and the underworld that frequents vulgar camaraderie and hatchet violence. The dark horse in an otherwise impeccable portfolio, you could say.

Of course, if you were to remove the wolf in sheep’s clothing, then you would, naturally, still have a recognizable Telltale game, complete with all of the traditional butterfly effects and event-altering decisions that flesh out most, if not all of the studio’s rolling catalog. It’s a bit like Tales from the Borderlands, but without Pandora and Vault Keys, and with more morally dubious fairy tales, whiskey cocktails and cigarettes. Oh, and the frequent use of the f word. I suppose that, in short, is what The Wolf Among Us is: a fabricated love letter to children’s storybooks, with a pocket of barbarity and a six-hour theatrical display of violent outrages and sleuth-like behavior. And you know what? It’s possibly one of Telltale Games’ greatest achievements to date.

Welcome to Fabletown

Forget what you thought you knew about Snow White, Red Riding Hood, or Beauty and The Beast. Heck, forget about the three pigs and the porridge-soaked bears, even. Why? Well, as it turns out, The Wolf Among Us doesn’t openly embrace the childish perceptions of these beloved storybook characters; it leans into their darker sides and wears their weaknesses like a glass slipper. Aerial, The Little Mermaid? A lap dancer. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum? Armed henchmen. The frog prince? A foul-mouthed suburban dweller with a god complex. The list goes on here, but you get the gist.

The Wolf Among Us invites you to Fabletown, a New York-inspired suburbia in which fairy tale creatures hide behind the veil of a toxin called Glamor—a powerful concoction that allows its consumer to embody a regular citizen and shun their natural skin. In this world, you take to the rather weighty boots of one Sherriff Bigby, otherwise known as “The Big Bad Wolf” of Red Riding Hood fame. Bound to the role of keeping order between restless fables and preventing old habits from taking hold, you embrace the world as judge, jury, and executioner—a figure of moral righteousness and city-wide standing. You aren’t famous for your gentle heart, but that’s another tale altogether.

Over the course of five two-hour episodes, The Wolf Among Us tasks you with slipping into those traditional Telltale hooks—the same hooks that you probably would have seen in the likes of The Walking Dead or Minecraft: Story Mode. And if you are unfamiliar with Telltale, then just know this: the decisions that you make over the course of the journey impact the characters, the intervals, and eventually, the conclusion. You can opt in and out of dialogue, react to or simply ignore pivotal QTEs, as well as make critical decisions on who to trust, and who to reject. Either way, the fact remains as textbook as your typical Telltale escapade: everything carries a moral consequence, and it’s up to you to figure out how to navigate the compass. Easier said than done, mind you.

The Wolf Bites

What entails over a sporadic noir-inspired memoir is a classic Telltale stepping stone procedure—an affair that involves exploring quaint areas, analyzing crime scenes, and conversing with mythical citizens in order to establish a clearer image of Fabletown’a rich and somewhat dark history. There are QTEs to hit, choice-based arcs to develop, and, true to the spirit of Telltale, hundreds of possible outcomes to unravel. A bread and butter episodic staple, then.

Suffice it to say that, existing portfolio illuminated, The Wolf Among Us delivers one of the grittiest chapters in Telltale’s anthology to date, with a combination of violent events and bleak storytelling forming the backbone to a criminal thriller that keeps you second guessing the next victim—the next fable to be part of a vicious massacre. There is a lot to unpack here, and not to mention a ton of synergies and narrative elements to wax in addition to the familiar trappings of a Telltale escapade. Not that there’s anything to complain about, though. If anything, it’s worth celebrating.

The Wolf Among Us is a lot like your typical Telltale game, and so, there is a niche market here that might not appeal to the masses. It doesn’t leave too much to the imagination, and it doesn’t do anything different to elevate the basic bone structure of its formulaic blueprint. That said, with stellar voice acting and a genuinely alluring hook to keep you going, you won’t find a shortage of reasons to stay the course and solve the mysteries of Fabletown. It’s dark, comical, and above all, a powerhouse in comic book storytelling.

Verdict

The Wolf Among Us sets the standard for Telltale Games with its alluring theatrical panels and fairy tale infusions, both of which convey a memorable episodic journey that not only plays incredibly well, but also keeps you on the edge of your seat as you volley back and forth between questions and answers, crossroads and premature climaxes. And I’ll be honest with you, Telltale truly has struck gold with the concept of merging both dark humor and warped fables with its signature gameplay style. It’s still the same ol’ Telltale, but with a little more, shall we say, oomph. 

Of course, if you have been living under a rock for the past several years and have yet to punch your ticket to the inner boroughs of Fabletown, then you ought to consider this review as your one-way ticket to its box office debut. It’s Telltale with a sharper edge; it’s a massacre of childhood memories that will keep you wanting more. What more could you want from an episodic thriller?